I am hopelessly addicted to home decor and doing things myself. My other addiction is Pinterest. My only saving grace with Pinterest is that I have been a lot more productive with projects around the house this past year, except for all the time I spend

Welcome to my sad little pendant light that has hung over our kitchen sink for the past few years.

Since we recently changed our chandelier over our kitchen table, it just wasn’t gee-hawing. Is that a word? I found a clear replacement shade at Lowes for $10.00, but it had this cheap texture to the inside of it that was partially chipped off. I probably could have scraped it off with my fingernail, but instead, I coated the inside with Citristrip paint remover.

Yes, I am subjecting my poor Purdy-reject paint brush to this mess. After cleaning the shade, I sprayed the inside with one coat of the Krylon’s Looking Glass spray paint. I used a water misting bottle and and lightly misted where I had just painted. I let this dry for about an hour. With one coat of paint, it looked like this.

Not terrible, but it was too transparent and “runny looking” (that’s the only way I know how to describe it). I didn’t want to see the bulb. After 2 more light coats to the inside of the shade and skipping the water, it was perfect!

*I’ve only used this light with the energy saving bulbs that don’t produce much heat. I’m not sure how it will do using regular incandescent bulbs.*

Before I proceed with, “Honey, look what I did!”, I like to find something comparable on the Internet so I can show my husband how much money we saved. In this instance, I spent $18.00 for the shade and paint. The pendants I had originally fell in love with are almost $400.00! Have you tried painting anything with the faux mercury glass spray paint yet?

I totally left that information out. Thanks for pointing it out to me! I added a picture of the spray paint and more details on the directions. It is Krylon’s Looking Glass spray paint and I only painted the inside. I was bound to leave some things out since it was my first post. Lol!ReplyDelete

Very nice. I am planning a new house and I think I will use this idea. I too love diying myself and will be doing it all when we build this house. We are just having the builder dry the house in and install the drywall. We will paint, trim etc. Can’t wait to use this idea.

Yes, I like the shinier speckled look too! I want to try it again on some candle holders since this was my first time using the looking glass spray paint. I also saw how you can dab on gold/copper paint to make it look more aged after the first coat.

Super excited that you posted this! I am in love with mercury glass! I have been wanting to know how to do it. I have tons of bottles saved and might even make some xmas ornaments cheaply!!! YAY! Thank you!

Hi, Jenny! I’ve not tried the mercury glass spray paint on anything that wasn’t clear, but I would highly recommend it. If you want to try it out, you can remove what you’ve spray painted easily with Citristrip (paint remover). I know this because I’ve had to redo this pendant when I scratched the paint with my wedding ring changing the light bulb.

I have recenly been trying to find glass shades that are clear with removable texture (the only things I’m finding are the ones that the glass isn’t even, theres lines or scales in it) This is for my ceiling fan lights. What would you reccomend? I have looked at lowes & lowes.com but I can’t seem to find anything. Any tips? I’ve also heard that you can use mineral spirits instead of water.

I don’t want to spend $400-$800 for new lighting, so I was thinking of spray painting it black. I have been at a loss on what to do with the horrible looking glass panels. I’m considering trying the mercury glass effect but I am a little worried it will block a lot of light from the bulbs and make the room too dark. These are the main 2 sources of light in our room, and not just accent lighting. After you did this did you notice it blocked a lot of the light out?

You never see ideas for mobile homes. So I look under small areas. We did remodeling maybe ten years ago. Now I’m ready for change! We have one large bathroom at one end with a small room separate for the commode and shower. The sink has a large cabinet base, a 5 foot closet,a linen closet and Double archway into the bedroom, which also has a walk-in closet in an L shape with 2 deep shelves above the built in water heater(closed in). Next a laundry room with cabinets above and on side wall with hanging area while hanging and folding clothes. Kitchen/living room all open the kitchen is in a square u shape. the sink and that counter and space is facing living room.Next bath with tub/shower ,commode & sink. Last my Creative Room for any crafts or sewing which also has a walk in closet..This needs serious organization, it’s packed. The rest of the house paint and ridding excess never used “things”. Also revamping lights,painting cabinets and a new couch and chair. Any ideas? I love the look of the bronze light you did. I even know colors I’d like to use . My husband doesn’t smile that I want to paint the cabinets.